Bruins open playbook early at Arizona

Jordan Payton knew what to expect at Arizona Stadium on Saturday night, even if an 8 p.m. local start threatened to dull the pre-game festivities. The rowdy students in Tucson wouldn’t give UCLA an easy time.

“I’ve heard a lot. What do they call it, the Tucson Zoo?” the sophomore receiver said this week. “I have a lot of friends over there, so they were all telling me how crazy it was going to be.”

Zona Zoo, actually, but UCLA quieted the Arizona crowd early. After the Wildcats opened up scoring with a 44-yard field goal, the Bruins struck back on their very first offensive snap.

Quarterback Brett Hundley whipped the ball some 40 yards downfield, finding receiver Shaq Evans for a 66-yard touchdown. It wasn’t his longest pass this season — that came last week on a 76-yard touchdown to Devin Fuller — but it hit Evans perfectly in stride.

After two drives, Hundley was 6 for 6 for 95 yards and a touchdown, two rushes for 32 yards and a touchdown — his most impressive stretch this season.

UCLA scored 14 points on its first 13 offensive plays.

Bag of tricks

The Bruins got creative early too. With a 14-3 lead in the second quarter, they tried a fake punt on their own 25-yard line. Punter Sean Covington had linebacker Myles Jack wide open, but overthrew him by about 2 yards.

The play would have been negated anyway, as several UCLA players were downfield as illegal receivers. The miscue helped put Arizona back into the game, with tailback Ka’Deem Carey punching in a 4-yard touchdown.

Jack also got his first career carry on the Bruins’ next drive. Head coach Jim Mora had said earlier this season that he planned to use Jack on offense at some point. The true freshman was also a standout running back at Bellevue High, averaging 19 yards per carry.

Stopping Carey

Carey entered Saturday as one of the most dangerous backs in the country. Of note, less than seven percent of his carries resulted in no gain or a loss.

Linebacker Eric Kendricks finally stopped him for no gain on the Wildcats’ game-opening field-goal drive, the first bit of success the Bruins had against the All-American. On his first five carries — including four straight — Carey picked up 2, 3, 1, 7 and 4 yards.

Freshman defensive lineman Eddie Vanderdoes tackled Carey for a 2-yard loss on Arizona’s second drive, but that followed a 17-yard gain by the tailback.

Kendricks came through again at the end of that drive, pairing with safety Randall Goforth to stop Carey on fourth down at the UCLA 15-yard line.

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“One of the best if not the best running back in the country,” Goforth said of Carey. “He’s a future first-round draft pick. … He’s going to make some plays, but it’s our job to make sure he doesn’t.”